Christacita

When I was a child, there was a huge birch tree in the garden of our parents' house that stretched up into the vastness of the sky, which I loved more than anything. I looked after it, talked to it, spent endless hours on one of its sprawling branches when I didn't know what to do. It gave me a feeling of courage and security, even a sense of home. When I was about 11 years old, I dedicated the following poem to our birch tree:

Oh my tree, how you live,
you rise more and more,
that you good soul never break,
when it concerns us, the human being,
All one hears from you,
is this gentle murmur here.

I can tell you everything that troubles me,
and never hear you say anything at all,
Only with the good of your heart,
you give me strength and courage again.
I can also feel how you are,
without anyone else seeing it.

When you must depart from the world,
and now enter the heavenly realm.
Who will rustle gently in the garden
and protect me all night?
I know what your heart will tell me,
you can only ask the stars.

When asked what this poem has in common with this fragrance, the answer is a very simple one. This fragrance gives me the comforting feeling of having arrived, the security that I was once given by my birch tree, my home. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that disturbs me, on the contrary, all the essences unite to form a great whole.

I don't smell a glamorous appearance of fruit, because then I wouldn't like this treat so much. It's more of a slightly fruity note, far away in the middle of nowhere. This is followed by a faint hint of pink pepper, followed by a beautiful jasmine that has entered into a symbiosis with full, round pralines. All in all, "Pure sugar" is creamy, sweet, gourmand and slightly synthetic. Something just gives this fragrance that certain something. That certain something that makes you feel like you've arrived.

Thank you to Pure Sugar and thank you to my birch tree for accompanying me on my multifaceted journey through life.

It is important to know where you come from and what is good for you. Ultimately, we can only give ourselves the security that we so desperately need, as it has always been a part of us. Bringing it to life can be a mammoth task. But what would life be without challenges?

Rawaa is said to be a popular girls' name in the Middle East and has various meanings. According to Dr. Google, however, it is not associated with water, but with the adjectives "splendid and wonderful".

Meanwhile, I consider everything that has an oriental charm, sounds good and is derived from it to be wonderful. Be it scents, dishes, names and not forgetting all the countries of the Orient. I have fond memories of various trips to Turkey in my youth, the benevolent country of exploration at the gateway to the Orient. Memet, our friend from Bodrum at the time, used to refer to veiled women as "closed women". When I think back to this, I am suddenly overcome by a slight smile. Never in his life would it have occurred to this young man to imagine a girl from our Western culture as his future wife. It must have seemed grotesque to him, however, how unselfconsciously we explored the depths of the Aegean in our skimpy bikinis back then. Who knows what became of the young man's dreams.

Rawaa tastes graceful and feminine. A very nice gourmand prelude, reminiscent of almond cookies and Turkish coffee. The sensual girl with the deep black eyes and dramatic eyeliner, whose expression hints at an unfathomable depth, but remains hidden to us Westerners. Quite mysterious, this Rawaa! Despite the magnificent heart notes, which are reminiscent of jasmine and iris and are sure to make many fragrance hearts beat faster, these flowers are a little too high a hurdle for me and take over the fragrance a little too much for our encounter to be anything more than a fleeting flirtation. The base also seems gourmand, but I can only perceive it in a very nebulous way, along with the floral blanket. But lo and behold, after a few well-tempered hours of being, the floral blanket has almost faded away and a magnificent tonka bean emerges in the unearthly sandalwood-vanilla bed. A successful gourmand fragrance for flower lovers who appreciate oriental flair.

As a musical stimulus, the song Aisha from 1996 comes to mind. Do you remember it?

Yeah Khaled, you rocked that!

Comme si j'n'existais pas
Elle est passée à côté de moi
Sans un regard, reine de Saba
J'ai dit Aïcha, prends, tout est pour toi
Voici les perles, les bijoux
Aussi l'or autour de ton cou
Les fruits bien mûrs au goût de miel
Ma vie, Aïcha, si tu m'aimes
J'irai où ton souffle nous mènent
Dans les pays d'ivoire et d'ébène
J'effacerai tes larmes, tes peines
Rien n'est trop beau pour une si belle, oh-oh

Aïcha, Aïcha, écoute-moi
Aïcha, Aïcha, t'en vas pas
Aïcha, Aïcha, regarde-moi, oh-oh
Aïcha, Aïcha, réponds-moi

In loving memory of my dad, with whom I was able to explore Turkey while sailing, drinking the legendary anchor drink every evening, singing patriotic songs and shedding lots of tears. I carry so much of you with me. Han di liab Papa, bisch dr Bescht !

The Moroccan day feels warm, with the calls of the muezin at sunrise echoing like shining stars in the morning idyll. I devoutly take a few leisurely steps to thank the Almighty with devotion. The orange blossom groves smell mild and full of grace, as if their only transfigured task is to tell mankind about their origins, namely those of the Arabian Nights. I mingle leisurely in the hustle and bustle of Marrakech's historic souk and let myself be inspired by the colors, shapes, scents and voices. An explosion of the senses awaits me, the likes of which I have never experienced before. Amidst the fireworks of scents, the smell of sun-ripened lemons wafts from somewhere, and as I search, almost desperately, for the essence, golden yellow shards of lemon preserved in sugar, enriched with the seeds of a full-bodied vanilla pod, reveal themselves to my gaze. When I even have the pleasure of tasting the specialty, I can no longer contain my joyful euphoria and a hearty laugh springs from the depths of my soul. What awaits me fills me with a feeling of love and humility. A glowing warmth runs through my heart, the emotion of which is filled with devotion and gratitude.

I discovered Devotion just before Christmas, when I sprayed the perfume, which comes in a promising and splendid-looking bottle, on my wrist while I was getting my last Christmas presents. BAM! The sweet lemons smell full, sugary and feminine, and the orange blossom that follows could not be more divinely graceful. No overpowering orange blossom, but a subtle and sensual variant that gives this fragrance the splendor that makes it a super fragrance. The vanilla rounds off the essences perfectly, literally leaving me speechless.

This is how I want to smell when I go out. That's how I want to smell when I go to work, that's how I want to smell in summer and winter, that's how I literally always want to smell.

"Devotion means a heightened state of receptivity because you are no longer full of yourself. It is an emptiness within you, so something can touch you, something can enter you, something can dwell within you."

This fragrance pyramid from Guimauve reminds me of an Olympics of superheroes, a test of strength at all costs. Every single one of the essences here wants to make it to the top of the world rankings. The fragrances rebel with virtuosity, show off their best qualities and dig deep into their bag of tricks. In fact, this olfactory scale, consisting of a mixture of woods, flowers, fruits and other delicious ingredients, is so colorful that it reminds me of the villa of the same name from Astrid Lindgren's fairy tale. So bright and colorful that I no longer know where my head is. Sweets of all colors and flavors are piled up on the terrace of that Villa Kunterbunt, all competing to shine. The children's hearts beat at the highest frequencies as they frolic on the lawn, with the main character herself setting the tone. This girl is full of unbridled, wild and overwhelming energy and nothing and nobody can put her off her stride. Our Pippi has made it her mission to love everything and everyone and to master every task in life with bravura and passion. Pippi Lotta, the most legendary character of our childhood. How I love all these books and lovingly produced films from the 70s. Pure nostalgia. Even my own children could hardly take their eyes off this fairy tale bursting with positive vibes.

For the first time, bitter almond and crested lavender win the battle for the top spot and remain in first place for a limited time. The former has still managed to enchant me, whereas I like lavender best where it belongs, namely in the vastness of Provence. It takes quite a while for the essences to calm down and then blend into each other in a very pleasant way. At some point, all that remains is a hint of this colorful potpourri, which is delicate, creamy and gourmet. Whether this symbiosis of essences actually manages to conjure up a marshmallow fatamorgana remains to be seen. What is undisputed is that the base leaves behind a creamy, delicate, almost childlike fragrance that I am happy to wear whenever I want to feel protected and transported back to my childhood in order to chase childhood dreams.

The longevity of the Guimauve composition is out of this world. It lingers on the skin for at least 24 hours, so creamy, soft and modest that I am overcome with a sense of humility. And have you seen this bottle? It literally makes me melt away.

2 x 3 makes 4
Widdewiddewitt
and three makes nine!!!
I make the world for myself
Widdewidde as I like it ....

Hey - Pippi Longstocking
trallari trallahey tralla hoppsasa
Hey - Pippi Longstocking,
who does what she likes

In joyful memory,
Your Pippi Lotta Victualia, Rolgardina, Peppermint Efraim's daughter Longstocking

Dramatic sounds disappear into the biting cold of the night. Sounds that spring from a dark brown violin, whose heaviness tells of a sad sadness. First timid, quiet sounds that suddenly pick up speed, as if their only aim was to escape the frosty sub-zero temperatures. Vivaldi's winter. An all-encompassing sadness whose beginning is based on a tragic guilt and thus continuously takes its course. Crushing, like the weight of a gigantic stone on innocently blooming daisies. Destroying everything. No light shines nearby, only individual flames burn in the blazing nowhere, far removed from any real existence. The hellish tunnel continues to spread, dark and invincible.

What would she give for a sparkling glimmer of hope in her utterly discouraged being? What would she give for a few meagre gestures of love and forgiveness in this emptiness crushed by loneliness? What would she give for a bright spark of light in this all-consuming world consumed by darkness?

Time takes its course and changes fundamentally as if by magic. There it is. The patch of earth, illuminated by single bright rays, far away and yet so close. Velvety expanses, violet tones that create joyful sounds. Vivaldi's spring, those gentle tones of the allegro that can even rouse bears from their hibernation. The burden disappears as quickly as it once crept in. From here to now. The elixir of life is there, waiting to be tasted, to become salvation and wholeness. The elixir that symbolizes forgiveness.

About the fragrance. Even if individual opinions differ greatly from mine, I will stick to my own. This fragrance here is the elixir of life par excellence. Because this elixir here is joyful, graceful, dense. Guilt (Guilty) may once have been at work, only to rediscover itself again in a not exactly harmonious way. With this fragrance, the days of guilt are over and are replaced by the elixir of life and the proverbial forgiveness. Once sprayed on my wrist, it immediately enchanted me. The top notes are supposed to be citrus and floral, but what hits me is creamy marzipan. I love it. The base stays with me for almost 24 hours. Pleasantly warm essences that are earthy, woody and gourmand at the same time. An absolute dream. Since "Rush | Gucci", I have found my way back to the house of Gucci after 24 years.

The elixir of life has its price. Well, I'm turning 50 in a few weeks, so maybe I'll treat myself to this expensive flacon to celebrate. Merry Christmas, my dears.

"Forgiveness is love's greatest task - and its greatest risk."